Member Spotlight: Image Mission

Image Mission is an IPC charity formed in 2015 with the mission to promote the economic independence of the disadvantaged.

We offer 2 signature programmes:

Dress for Success® provides coaching, styling and free work clothes for women going for job interviews or who have secured employment. These sessions are conducted one-on-one with a trained volunteer. We manage Dress for Success Singapore as an affiliate of global non-profit organisation Dress for Success Worldwide and are one of 150 affiliates.

I M Ready helps unemployed and under-employed clients to be fully workforce ready by offering career consultation and development tools to tap their full potential.

Our clients typically come from low income households and disadvantaged backgrounds. They include single mothers, women with mental health issues and disabilities, ex-offenders and graduating students from low income families.

Providing personalised coaching and styling to get clients work-ready

Since 2015, we have impacted more than 600 women, with 30% gaining employment and starting on their journey to financial independence.

Seeing our clients transform and blossom is the highlight of our work at Image Mission. One of our clients, Rosilah, a single mother of two, was looking for a more stable job with regular income and working hours. When she first came to us, she didn’t know how to go about looking for a job. We helped her with her resume and identifying her strengths.

Now, Rosilah shares, “It feels good to have a job you are passionate about and I look forward to going to work everyday. Now, I have better control of my life and am slowly starting to settle my debts. On my days off, we now have some extra cash to go out and spend time together.”

When our clients thrive, so do their families. This ripple effect reflects the true impact of our work.

Our biggest challenge arose with the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic and heightened circuit breaker measures in Singapore this year. Almost overnight, all our in-person services were suspended.

At the same time, our clients were reporting serious repercussions from the disruption. 66% had lost their job or had their job suspended. 75% were experiencing financial hardship; the unemployed were relying on government support, family members and savings to get by. Without a job, these women are unable to meet more than daily expenses.

To meet our clients’ pressing needs for employment support, we quickly transitioned to virtual services such as online coaching. We are also looking to introduce online workshops, resources and support platforms soon.

Amidst all this disruption, our plans to celebrate our 5th anniversary in March had to be shelved. But we’re hopeful we’ll still be able to mark this milestone in a meaningful way later this year!

As a non-profit, we rely on donors to help fund our programmes and initiatives. More than ever, we are looking to build greater awareness of our work and connecting with individuals and corporate partners who support our cause.